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For Immediate Release
January, 06 2021, 11:00pm EDT
Contact:
Don Owens, dowens@lawyerscommittee.org, c. (202) 934-1880
press@lawyerscommittee.org
WASHINGTON
President-elect Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Kristen Clarke (bio), the president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law to be the nation's nineteenth Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.
The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice enforces the nation's civil rights laws while ensuring equal justice under law for all Americans. The President-elect will announce the appointment, along with the appointment of his choice for Attorney General at an event in Delaware later today.
The Hon. Shira Scheindlin and Tom Sager, co-chairs of the board of the national Lawyers' Committee, together with Joseph K. West, the vice-chair of the board, released the following statements:
Judge Scheindlin stated that "Kristen Clarke is a force of nature. She has been working tirelessly, around the clock, morning, noon and night to ensure that all Americans share the same rights and privileges as equal members of our society. Without her commitment, past, present and future we would not be confident that this promise would be fulfilled. But with her leadership at the Department of Justice, we can again believe in a just future."
Tom Sager stated that "I cannot think of anyone better qualified to assume the daunting task of ensuring that our nation's civil rights laws are enforced as they were meant to be. She is a woman of great strength and commitment and has never failed to achieve her goals. I am confident she will succeed and the nation will be well served by this historic appointment."
Joseph K. West stated that "I have worked closely with Kristen to advance and protect the rights of all Americans, particularly those who have been traditionally overlooked and disadvantaged. The time has come when everyone will be safe and secure and share equally in the opportunities that all Americans should enjoy. Kristen Clarke is uniquely qualified to ensure those rights. I am so proud to have worked with her at the national Lawyers' Committee and look forward to continuing to do so in her new role."
Clarke's career and leadership have proved that she is committed to seeking truth and justice for all Americans through our system of laws. She formerly served as the head of the Civil Rights Bureau for the New York State Attorney General's Office, spent several years at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and worked at the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. Put simply, when it comes to enforcing and fighting for our nation's civil rights for all, Clarke has consistently been in the arena. Her experience, comportment and focus while at the national Lawyers' Committee has positioned her well to continue leading the fight for our civil rights.
The Lawyers' Committee is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to enlist the private bar's leadership and resources in combating racial discrimination and the resulting inequality of opportunity - work that continues to be vital today.
(202) 662-8600LATEST NEWS
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"The only reason she is not with us is because of Donald Trump, Greg Abbott, and every single Republican politician who helped put Texas' abortion ban in place," said one advocacy group.
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Friends and family of Porsha Ngumezi, a 35-year-old mother of two in Houston, were stunned last year to learn that she had died in a hospital after suffering a miscarriage when she was 11 weeks pregnant—and medical experts who spoke to the investigative outlet ProPublicaon Monday had the same reaction.
"All she needed was a [dilation and curettage]," one friend told Ngumezi's grieving husband, Hope Ngumezi, referring to a standard procedure which is often given to pregnant patients who have first-trimester miscarriages. Commonly called a D&C, it is also diagnose or treat other health conditions and provide abortion care.
Dr. Daniel Grossman, an obstetrics and gynecology professor at University of California, San Francisco, toldProPublica that "at every point" of Ngumezi's visit to Houston Methodist Sugar Land, a hospital outside Houston, medical providers' response to her case was "kind of shocking."
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Like at least two other Texas women—Nevaeh Crain and Josseli Barnica—Ngumezi's death in June 2023 was the result of the abortion ban that went into effect in Texas in 2022, according to medical experts who reviewed her case.
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"Doctors assume that a D&C is not standard in Texas anymore, even in cases where it should be recommended. People are afraid: They see D&C as abortion and abortion as illegal."
An ultrasound showed a "sac-like structure," but no fetus or cardiac activity were detected, indicating that she was having a miscarriage.
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Dr. Gabrielle Taper, who has worked as an OB-GYN in Austin, told ProPublica that since Texas' abortion ban went into effect in 2022—two months after the right-wing majority on the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade—there has been "much more hesitation [among doctors] about: When can we intervene, do we have enough evidence to say this is a miscarriage, how long are we going to wait, what will we use to feel definitive?"
For Ngumezi, that hesitation meant that Dr. Andrew Ryan Davis, the obstetrician on duty, prescribed misoprostol to help Ngumezi pass the fetal tissue without a D&C.
Dr. Alison Goulding, another OB-GYN in Houston, told ProPublica that because misoprostol can also be used for women in labor or to treat postpartum bleeding, under Texas' abortion ban, "stigma and fear are there for D&Cs in a way that they are not for misoprostol."
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But ProPublica noted that Ngumezi had a similar case to one described on social media by podcast host Ryan Hamilton earlier this year. Hamilton's wife experienced bleeding while miscarrying at 13 weeks, and was prescribed misoprostol and sent home after an ultrasound at Surepoint Emergency Center Stephenville showed no fetal cardiac activity. The bleeding got worse, but an emergency doctor told the couple they couldn't provide a D&C because of "the current stance" in Texas.
Greer Donley, a law professor at University of Pittsburgh, said that "the antiabortion movement wants us to blame the doctors and sometimes that is warranted. But abortion bans are the ultimate cause of this harm."
"When life in prison is the penalty for violating a ban, doctors will understandably be risk averse. And that chill in care will cause death," said Donley.
ProPublica reported that "performing a D&C attracts more attention from colleagues, creating a higher barrier in a state where abortion is illegal."
Doctors, added Goulding, "have to convince everyone that it is legal and won't put them at risk [of prosecution]."
In Ngumezi's case, the bleeding continued after she took misoprostol, and her heart stopped three hours later—a "preventable" death, according to the experts.
"The only reason" Ngumezi died, said Reproductive Justice for All, is that Republican politicians including President-elect Donald Trump helped put Texas' abortion ban in place.
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Yesterday, the Financial Timesreported that the deal on the table would call for an initial two-month cease-fire—citing two Lebanese officials—"during which the Israeli military would withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah would move its weapons north of the Litani river, which runs 30km from the U.N.-drawn border."
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ATF's analysis, released Monday, shows that the combined wealth of Trump's richest nominees and transition team members—including the president-elect and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), the vice president-elect—is over $313 billion. By comparison, the combined net worth of President Joe Biden's Cabinet is an estimated $118 million.
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